AL:Faction
This article is a mixture of faction description and game plot, and contains all major storyline spoilers, with each faction progressively revealing more game plots. The race article instead does not contain any plot, only pure data. In UFO:Afterlight the Humans on Mars will deal with factions both on Mars and on Earth. All alien factions has a main base whose location is determined randomly in the faction's starting territory. Most main bases are special, and cannot be replaced, but losing a main base alone would not eliminate an alien faction, unless it is the faction's last territory. Humans 50 years ago, Earth was devastated in the Mutant War with aliens, and the Humans moved to Mars in cryonics, trusting its terraformation to a elite team. The crew uncovered fossil fuel and ruins, argued with the Laputians, and eventually communication was cut off. For details of these pre-game events, please see storyline. A few months later, an excavation dig activated all Martian battle drones on Mars, killing , followed by attacks on human's water supply. Attempts to re-contact Laputa with quantum communication has proven futile. Not long after, an hyperspace gate opened at the excavation site, bringing in a new race of hostile aliens called Beastmen, and once again humanity is under threat. Except that, this time, only 20 people stand between the enemy and the helpless settlers. If the human lost again, there will be no survivors left. Robots Robots is the first hostile faction that the Humans meet on Mars. They are Martian built drones that lied dormant in the now lifeless Martian dwellings, buried under Martian dust. Once the drones are activated, they surface all over Mars to guard unclaimed lands. Drones have no minds of their own, and is completely immune to psionic attacks or psionic detection. Being mechanical in nature and have lasted for thousands of years after their masters are long gone, the are quite durable and is resistant to many attacks. Drones will not actively invade Human territories, but will attack human facilities on unclaimed land, i.e. the aqueduct. Reticulans , , , , , , }} In UFO:Afterlight, Reticulan is both a faction (upper case) and a race (lower case). As stated, the Reticulans devastated the Earth. Since Earth is no longer safe, they have settled down in Mars too, to the South of the Human colony. They have advanced technology, reflecting in their UFO, and laser and psionic weapons. But they are physically fragile and ill equipped to battle the robots, thus the excavation incident has forced them to offer an alliance with Humans. found that they have occupied the lands with richest resources when they first build the colonies. This and withholding their advanced technologies has caused to mistrust them. Research on Fossil Fuel have also revealed that many years ago Mars was also covered by biomass, like the one that destroyed Earth, and the Reticulans are suspected. Interrogation of Reticulan Commander finally uncovers that they tried to turn Earth into a living planet, in disobedience to their ruler. They succeed, but the newborn gave off a strong psionic signal, debilitating the Reticulans and weakening them. Servants After the excavation incident, proposed an emergency plan to contact Earth by building a radio satellite station. Not long after, communication is reestablished with a religious group on Earth called Servants. They are unable to send supplies, but have offered to share data. advised caution. If data is shared with the Servants, they will send a large database to Humans as promised, enabling lots of new researches. The servants is a major faction in UFO: Aftershock, but plays a minor role in Afterlight. Laputians When Earth was first attacked by the Reticulans, the survivors formed Council of the Earth and eventually made a deal with the Reticulans, who built them the Laputa. Not everyone is happy. When contact was cut between the Mars colony and Laputa, the Servants strikes and successfully destroyed Laputa. Laputians has been fighting them on the Earth ever since. Within a month, the Laputians took back control, and is delighted that Mars colony survived onslaughts from Beastmen. After the incidents on both sides, the Laputians is determined to support the Mars colony, with a particular interest in the history of Mars. After the war on Earth is completely won, the Laputians will start sending supply spaceships to Mars. Expedition , , , }} The Reticulans does not represent the whole reticulan race. In fact they have rebelled. Just as the war with beastmen heat up, the royal reticulan fleet, called Expedition, has finally arrived for justice, landing on Mars and Earth in numbers. Unaffected by their brethrens' ill-ended plan, they retained overwhelming psionic force. Fortunately they are sympathetic to Humans, and soon offers an alliance if it means crushing the rebels together. Interrogation of Expedition Commander reveals that the rebels were controlled by Myrmecol, an interstellar organism. They left the reticulans and started looking for a planet for Myrmecol to breed, and they found Earth. Martians , , , }} The Mars is full of Martian ruins and drones, but few were known about the Martians since none has been found. As more artifacts were discovered, the Human slowly learned that the Martians had great knowledge in EM and plasma manipulation, and travelled to other stars. To everyone's surprise, the Martians were not extinct and has awakened from their sleep, not long after the Expedition arrives. Turns out that the excavation incident also triggered their awaken process. They are green and tree-like, and is resistant to bullets and lasers. Based on research on their artifacts, the Laputians suggested checking out the Mars moons, Phobos and Deimos. Two trips later and it is discovered that they are both hollow, and that Martians arrived Mars in one of them. After researching Martian "spoken" language from the Martian Archives and from a Martian captive, the Human can finally have a diplomatic relationship with them. Beastmen Beastmen are giant, aggressive, red species. Like human, they employ firearms, grenades, armors, medicines, and combat assistants. With time, the beastmen also come up with new and more powerful weapons and units. Unlike human, they steadfastly refused all communications, and is everyone's common enemy on Mars. Still, no one can stop them, except Humans. It is quickly learned that Beastmen has their own technology, and the hyperspace gates that Beastmen is pouring through is of Martian nature. Although the gates are invulnerable, their power sources are not, and one by one the Human shut down the gates, cutting off Beastmen numbers. It is until much later from matriarch interrogation and other history research that Human learn that Beastmen are the original inhabitants of Mars. The Martians has conquered them long long time ago, and casted them out through the Hypergates to another planet. They have been developing their strength ever since, becoming a warrior races that cares only about war and fighting. Myrmecols Myrmecols can be said to be the hands behind everything on Mars and Earth. These beings travel among the stars, and a females came to Mars several thousands years ago, where the Beastmen were living. She engulfed Mars with Biomass, and summoned for mates. Not long after, two males arrived, each carrying a warrior race. They fought each other and with beastmen, and one of them won the battle and the right to mate, becoming Martians. The males, now lifeless, became Mar's moons. The Reticulans were also controlled by a Myrmecol - which successfully used them to engulf the Earth, and released a psychic mating signal. Whether the events on Mars are related with the Reticulans or this Myrmecol's action is unknown. More information on the Myrmecol can be researched in UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock. Faction